Creative Investment Solutions

Menu

President

Marlene K. Puffer, Ph.D., CFA, ICD.D

Dr. Puffer founded Twist Financial in 2005 to provide strategic advice, macroeconomic and investment strategies, research and analytics, education, and litigation support to institutional investors and other financial market participants. Her leadership and broad experience in the capital markets and academia provide clients with a unique perspective along with innovative and pragmatic solutions. She engaged outstanding teams of other experts to provide clients with in-depth expertise to meet complex needs.

She has more than 20 years of experience including roles on boards, in portfolio management, pension investments, LDI, client service and marketing, debt structuring, analytics, quantitative modeling, and academia. Her depth and breadth of investment experience are distinct in the industry. Dr. Puffer’s diverse experience includes roles as Chief Strategist, Global Fixed Income at BCA Research (a global leader in independent macro investment strategy), business development and portfolio management at PIMCO Canada and Legg Mason Canada, fixed income analytics and debt capital markets roles on the trading floors at BMO and RBC. She began her career as a professor of finance at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

She appears frequently in the media and as a speaker at conferences. She has authored numerous articles in academic and practitioner publications.

Consultants

Alexandra Mackay, Ph.D.

Dr. Alexandra MacKay is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Her expertise includes fixed income, derivatives and risk management. She is the Academic Director of the Master of Finance Program and Director of Finance Programs in Executive Education. She teaches courses in fixed income and derivatives at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She also teaches Executive Education programs, including the Financial Acumen Program for TD Group and Financial Literacy for Directors and Executives. Dr. Mackay holds a Ph.D. in finance from York University and M.A. and B.Sc. degrees from the University of Toronto.

Maureen Stapleton, MBA, M.Sc., CFA, FCSI

Maureen Stapleton is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She teaches courses in financial markets and investments. Her expertise includes asset allocation, pension funds, mutual funds and ETF’s. She has 25 years of industry experience in investment analysis and institutional portfolio management. Maureen was EVP, Fixed Income Management at UBS Global Asset Management, and SVP, Institutional Asset Management at RT Capital. Maureen holds the CFA designation, she is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute, and she holds MBA and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Toronto. She is an Investment Advisor to the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, a former Director of the Toronto CFA Society and a past President of Women in Capital Markets.